18: The Richest Man in Babylon
“In Old Babylon there once lived a certain very rich man named Arkad. Far and wide he was famed for his great wealth. Also he was famed for his liberality […] but nevertheless each year his wealth increased more rapidly than he spent it.”
- taken from The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason
Scroll down for @thecultured.life audio reading of this post, also available to download, if you prefer 🎧
What are some money stories you were told when growing up?
At some point, our younger selves may have probably been chastised “money doesn’t grow on trees” or for those raised up in Christian households that “money is the root of all evil”.
I was brought up on the latter, but my dad made sure we didn’t ignore that actual scripture read “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” 1 Timothy 6:10 NIV.
The love of money. Is it human to love money?
The Richest Man in Babylon was written 3 years before a period known as The Great Depression in the 1920s. It’s a short “classic” book on wealth and money, written using storytelling and parables.
The story of this book and I begins as I try to reconcile my tumultuous relationship with money at the start of the year, borrowing this weathered and well-read book from my husband’s book collection.
The book is unlike any other book on finance that I’ve read. Its money ‘top tips’ are told in parables, following the journey of Arkad, Bansir and friends living in Babylon in ancient times. The exploration of the characters’ money lives in the book conveys that it is perhaps human to love money. But to use it well, maybe not.
The book reveals how to build wealth that lasts.
However, what did irk me about the book is the gender bias and stereotypes as every lead character is a man and servants are often black. It’s a book written by a white man, reflective of prevailing attitudes in the 1920s. Could you continue reading the book past this fact?
I decided to by recasting characters as I read. With lots of eye-rolls in between chapters.
Nonetheless, elements of the book reminded me of Tiago’s personal legend in Paulo Coelho’s book The Alchemist. Like Coelho, Clason buries several nuggets of wisdom in prose for readers to discover. The pursuit of financial literacy is a rugged journey after all.
Ancient top tips from the book:
- “Wealth that comes quickly goeth the same way”
- “For, it is not wise that we should enjoy while we dwell in the brightness of the sunshine, for sorrows enough shall descend upon us when we depart for the darkness of the world of spirit?”
- “To a man’s heart it brings gladness to eat the figs from his own trees and the grapes from his own vines.”
Purchase The Richest Man in Babylon by George S Clason here
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